Marvel’s most recent big budget release, Thor: Love and Thunder, has had an uncomfortable time with critics and audiences, and its Rotten Tomatoes score dropped below what is widely considered one of the worst Marvel films to date.
On paper, Taika Waititi returning to the franchise after nailing Ragnarok as well as he did felt like a winning combo, while comeback queen Natalie Portman, a new villain in Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher, and fan favorites Guardians of the Galaxy stopping by for a cameo were all excitingly fresh ingredients.
But it’s not been smooth, with the critical reception on the aforementioned aggregation site briefly dropping to 65 percent, putting it a point below Thor: The Dark World for several hours, before it managed to climb back to 66 percent and level the playing field.
Ticking back up to 66 percent does have many wondering why the film hasn’t been as pleasing, and is it really worse than The Dark World? I mean, can anybody even remember the plot or the villain from Thor 2?
But more importantly, when you really crunch the numbers, which movie has the higher rating, down to the very exact points? Surprisingly, one commenter did the math and it’s Thor: The Dark World. Though in good news for Thor 4 fans, Eternals is still another 11 points lower on Rotten Tomatoes.
Looking far more in-depth into why Love and Thunder failed was an analysis which believed the film tried too hard to mash together two starkly different comic book stories which should’ve been their own movies.
It seems the reception did lead to a reduced box office return, with a sharp drop of roughly $300 million worldwide between Thor 4 and previous 2022 MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Both films are still in cinemas, so there is a slim chance Love and Thunder could bridge the gap.
